Pompano Beach to hold Juneteenth celebration

From David Volz

The City of Pompano Beach Cultural Affairs Department will hold a Juneteenth celebration with a virtual jazz concert starring the Melton Mustafa Quintet. The virtual concert will premiere on Friday, June 18th, at 7:00 p.m. The program will air for free on the City of Pompano Beach’s Facebook page.

The concert will still be available on Facebook for those who miss the premier time. The celebration will showcase acclaimed saxophonist Melton Mustafa Jr. and poetry by award[1]winning spoken word artist Eccentrich. “We are proud to support this national commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States with an event in Pompano Beach that honors and celebrates Black history and culture,” said Mayor Rex Hardin.

Melton Mustafa Jr. is a two-time, Grammy®-Award nominated educator, and the son of renowned trumpeter Melton S. Mustafa. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, and raised in Miami, the Juneteenth event headliner received a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Florida A&M University. Mustafa received a Master’s in Education from FIU where he is currently working on his Doctoral Degree in Leadership. Mustafa works as Professional Music Educator at Parkway School of the Arts and is an Adjunct Professor at Florida Memorial University.

Adding to the celebration will be acclaimed spoken word artist Eccentrich. As a poet, she has graced the stages of over 45 venues from Florida to California. She was ranked the 7th female poet in the world according to her placement during the 2017 Women of the World Poetry Slam, and was a member of the celebrated spoken word team Dada, which finished first in the nation during the 2017 National Poetry Slam. Eccentrich was honored to have her poetry featured on the acclaimed site, Button Poetry, a platform committed to developing a coherent and effective system of production, distribution, promotion and fundraising for performance poetry.